Subsea trenching specialist DeepOcean is aiming to be a market leader in a new sector.

The company, which employs around 120 at its Darlington office, has entered into a “strategic alliance” with geotechnical engineering and offshore drilling company Geoquip Marine AG.

It has acquired its own geotechnical drilling rig and bosses say the company has the potential to become a leader in the sector.

The partnership will see the two companies provide geotechnical services including seabed drilling and testing in the Greater North Sea and worldwide.

The seabed has to be able to withstand the weight and applied loads of man-made structures such as oil rigs.

New fields are being developed at greater distances offshore and in deeper waters, as oil and gas reserves closer to shore are gradually depleted - yet there isn’t enough competition in the area of geotechnical service provision, bosses have claimed.

“DeepOcean through its strategic alliance with Geoquip, and its relationships with key customers worldwide, is well positioned to become a preferred provider and a viable alternative to the current segment leader in the Greater North Sea.

“We have several vessels in our fleet of 14 owned and chartered vessels that can deploy the geotechnical drilling rig, and we are targeting a number of opportunities in the offshore renewables and oil & gas sectors”

GeoQuip Marine AG CEO Andrew Wright said: “DeepOcean is the ideal alliance partner, the synergies between the two companies will result in being able to offer clients high quality seabed drilling and testing services particularly in deep water and in challenging environments such as the Arctic and will provide much needed global competition.”

The new rig, which was built and commissioned in 2011, is capable of operating in water depths of more than 600 metres and drilling with a combined depth of 850 metres.

DeepOcean is one of the leading inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) contractors and trenching operators in the Greater North Sea and has a global presence with offices in Norway, the Netherlands, Brazil, Mexico and Singapore.

A further 130 offshore staff are employed by the company’s Darlington office, and last autumn it brought three new vessels to market amid predictions that demand for vessels will grow by 50% between 2013 and 2017.

Geoquip Marine operates four offshore geotechnical drilling spreads for clients around the world, a fleet of three technical vessels and is developing services in gas hydrate and mineral exploration.